The Beijing-based bank confirmed that Goldman cut its stake in the blue-chip company by 23% but said it doesn't expect any significant impact on its share price given that its Hong Kong-listed shares have gained nearly 6% since the start of September. Goldman's stake in ICBC totals about 3% after the sale.

"Goldman Sachs said it will continue to keep its strategic partnership with ICBC, and it will remain ICBC's strategic investor," an ICBC spokesman said Thursday.

The U.S. investment bank sold 3.04 billion ICBC shares Wednesday at 5.74 Hong Kong dollars (74 U.S. cents) each, said the people familiar with the situation. They said the size of the share sale was increased from 2.75 billion shares to meet demand.

The sale price represented a 3.9% discount to ICBC's closing price Wednesday of HK$5.97. On Thursday, ICBC's shares fell 3.2% to close at HK$5.78 in Hong Kong but rose 0.8% to close at 4.04 yuan (60 U.S. cents) in Shanghai.

This is Goldman's second move to trim its exposure to ICBC, which has been a hugely profitable investment for the Wall Street firm. Goldman bought a 4.9% stake in ICBC in April 2006 for $2.58 billion ahead of the bank's initial public offering. In June 2009, Goldman sold about 20% of that stake for $1.91 billion.

One of the people familiar with the situation said Goldman's motive for selling this week was primarily to cap the volatility ICBC creates for the U.S. firm's profit-and-loss account. Mark-to-market accounting rules mean fluctuations in ICBC's share price can have a big impact on Goldman's books.

Even after the sale, Goldman's ICBC remaining stake, valued at $7.6 billion, will remain its largest single investment globally.

Before reducing its ICBC stake last June, Goldman agreed to lock up 80% of its shares until April. Goldman doesn't foresee any further moves to sell down its stake, one person familiar with the matter said, though that could still change, and the bank isn't making any commitments to lock up the remaining shares.

The Goldman-ICBC relationship has included cooperation in areas such as deal advice. Goldman bankers advised ICBC on its purchase in 2007 of a 20% stake in Africa's largest lender,
Standard Bank Group Ltd.
, for more than $5 billion.